As they talked, Emily managed to let go of her fears more and more. Syl wasn't so bad. He was just a boy. Her friend. Yes, he had powers, but that in itself wasn't anything to be afraid of.

Syl showed her how his powers worked, how the energy flowed through the tattoos on his arm, into the palms of his hands. From there, he could direct it outside of his body and into the world. Once Emily started trusting him, she couldn't stop asking questions about his powers. She could still hardly believe she'd ended up in a world with actual magic.

He told her more about their friendship as well. Just like with Maya and Dennis, her friendship with Syl had had its ups and downs over the years. But eventually, they always came back here and talked things out. Always.

"I have to go," said Syl suddenly, jumping up from the log as if it had burned him.

"Oh," was all Emily could think to say. "But... I still have so many questions."

Syl smiled his sad smile down at her. "Another time." Without another word, he turned and walked off, disappearing in the shadows of the trees.

Emily sat there staring after him for a few moments, trying to understand what had just happened. Had she said something wrong? She didn't think she had...

Suddenly a light went on in her head and she jumped up, her heart leaping into her throat with the movement. "Syl, wait!"

When no sound came back, she followed after him, into the woods. How could they have been so stupid? Syl hadn't told her when they'd meet again!

"Hey, Syl! Come back!"

Emily all but ran past the trees, stumbling several times when she failed to spot a fallen branch or upturned root.

"Syl!"

Eventually, she paused, leaning over with her hands on her knees, panting. "Damnit..." She kicked a stray twig away in frustration.

For the first time since she'd left the clearing, Emily had a look at her surroundings. All around her, darkness stretched on. The many trees seemed to block everything else from view. She turned a few times, uncomfortable in the eerie silence all around her. A bird chirped far in the distance. The only other sound she could hear was that of the wind rustling leaves.

The emptiness around her slowly settled into her stomach, too, when she realised she had no idea where she was. Which way is the clearing again?

She turned a few more times, searching for something, anything, familiar. But the trees all looked the same. Dark and gloomy.

"Oh nooo..." she muttered under her breath, glancing around desperately. Now what?

She couldn't stay here, she knew that much. Picking a random direction, she forced her feet to move.

Emily walked further and further into the forest, unsure entirely of whether she was getting nearer or farther away from town. Not knowing where to go, she'd decided to follow the chirping of the birds up ahead, but their songs seemed to come from different directions sometimes.

She regretted going after Syl, but it was much too late now. Without a doubt, Emily was completely and utterly lost.

"Now what do we have here?"

A teasing voice grabbed her attention and she whirled around. A boy with flaming red hair stood in front of her, a smirk on his freckled face.

"Who are you?" she breathed wide-eyed.

"I am someone who belongs here," said the boy, taking a threatening step forward. "You, on the other hand, are not."

Emily gasped when her eyes flicked towards the boy's arms, where the same black lines curled around his skin that Syl had, too. Oh no... I must've gone the wrong way after all. I must've ended up on the wrong side of the forest!

Raising her hands defensively, Emily quickly tried to explain herself. "I didn't mean to come here, I just got lost in the forest. I'm sorry, I'll just leave."

She took a few steps backwards, but the boy moved along with her. "I don't think so," he hissed. "You shouldn't have come here, Inops."

Before Emily understood what was happening, the boy had lifted his hands up and static electricity crackled between his fingers. It was as if she was watching lightning shoot back and forth between his two outstretched hands. The boy's grin widened along with Emily's eyes.

"No! Please, I'm sorry! It was an accident!"

"You will be sorry," the boy spat, before slamming his hand towards her.

Two things happened at once. Just as a white-hot bolt of electricity came shooting towards her, a voice to her left screamed, "No!" She didn't have time to find out where the voice came from, or to jump aside for that matter, before the electricity hit her straight in the chest, the force of it lifting her off her feet and blowing her backwards. She crashed her back into a nearby tree and slumped down below it. Every inch of her body, both inside and out, seemed to be on fire. The electricity burned, scorched and roasted her skin, her flesh, her nerve-endings, yet somehow enough of them survived for her to still feel the immense pain.

As she sat there, unable to move or do anything at all, she watched the red-haired boy being flunk head-first into a tree, just like she had done just now. He slipped down onto the ground, blood trickling from the back of his head. Unmoving. That was when Syl came into her view.

"Emily!" He crouched down next to her, eyes wide and voice cracking with shock.

Emily wanted to respond, but her muscles wouldn't obey. All she could do was sit there, as a wildfire coursed throughout her body, wreaking havoc in the form of unimaginable pain.

She was going to die. She was sure of that. Her body would give in to the pain soon, and she would never wake up.

"Emily, please, say something," Syl whispered. He held his hands above her arms, but seemed to be afraid to touch her, as if that could've made things worse.

She wanted to tell him that nothing could make this worse, but her breath hitched in her throat and no words came out.

"It's okay," Syl whispered. "It'll be okay. I won't let you die."

Emily barely registered the words. All she could focus on was the burning pain coursing through her body, and the crestfallen eyes looking into hers. Just staying alive, awake, was draining so much of her energy. She wanted to close her eyes and drift off, but she couldn't stop looking into those beautiful, sea-blue eyes.

Two strong arms slipped under her back and legs, and effortlessly lifted her up. Her head fell against his chest and through the pain, she could feel the rhythmic beating of his heart against her temple.

"You'll be alright, Emily, just hold on," Syl kept whispering as he carried her away.

Emily had no idea where they were going, but it didn't matter. The fire inside her skin was eating away at her and it wouldn't be long until it had devoured her. It wouldn't be long until all this was over.

As the trees parted, Emily could hear people shouting, but she couldn't make out what they were saying. Syl held her even closer until, finally, he stopped and carefully lay her back on the ground. He stood up, towering above her, while she writhed at his feet.

"Please." Emily had closed her eyes by now, but she could still make out his voice. "Please," he begged. "Heal her."

The words did not register in her head. Why hadn't the pain consumed her senses yet? Why was she still conscious?

"She is not one of us."

She squeezed her eyes shut tight, curling up on the ground. She had no idea what was going on around her. All she wanted was for the pain to stop.

"I'm begging you. You can't let her die. I'll do anything, just save her. Please!"

The pain... The horrible, nauseating, excruciating pain...

"Fine. But you shall bear the consequences."

The pain... The p-

Emily gasped when the electricity suddenly seemed to leave her body, the fire dying down into nothing but embers.

"Emily!" Syl kneeled down next to her, a lone tear strolling down his cheek.

Slowly, her senses sharpened once more. She grabbed Syl's hand when he reached over to brush a lock of hair out of her face, and she held onto it as if her life depended on it. On her other side, an old man with a white beard and a long walking stick towered over her, looking down with contempt.

"I hope she was worth it, boy," said the old man. "Because she cost you everything. You are banished."

A collective gasp went through the air around them and Emily finally noticed all the other people standing in a messy circle around them. They all looked down at her and Syl, mixed emotions showing on their faces – some looked shocked, others smirked, still others glared at her angrily.

Syl, in the meantime, held out his hand to help her up and said, "She is worth it. She is worth everything."

Emily let Syl help her up, as the menacing words of the old man echoed through her head. She cost you everything. You are banished. She looked into her friend's eyes, the sadness now mixed with a strange sort of determination.

He's been banished from his home, she realised. Because of me...

Syl grabbed her hand to lead her away, but she stopped.

"Wait!" Emily spun around to face the old man, who seemed to make the decisions around here. The man lifted his head higher as she spoke to him. She took a deep breath and said, "Please don't banish him. This isn't his fault, it's mine. I should never have come here, I'm sorry. Please don't make him pay for my mistake."

The old man grabbed his walking stick tighter and took a step forward. Somehow, though bending over and leaning on the stick, he still towered over her, as if authority alone was enough to do that. "The boy made his choice, now he has to live with it."

Syl took her hand, but she shook him off. She couldn't let this happen. Where was he going to go? This place was his home, and Emily took that from him. She felt sick with guilt. "But it's my fault! I didn't know I wasn't meant to come here."

"He made his choice long before that," said the old man. "We do not fraternize with your kind. He knew what would happen if he did."

A murmur of agreement droned through the crowd.

"It's fine, Emily," Syl whispered, the sadness in his eyes stinging deep inside her soul. "These are the rules of my people. Let's just get out of here."

Emily felt tears burn behind her eyes. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right. Surely there had to be something she could do to fix this?

"You told me they were good people," she said, not caring that they could all hear her. "How can they turn their back on one of their own, just because you saved someone's life?"

"We turn our back on him because he put us all in danger," snarled the old man's voice behind her. "You are correct to think this is your fault. Your kind are disgusting, treacherous beings, who would do anything to rid the world of magic. He was wrong to trust you."

With those words, the crowd erupted in shouting and laughter. The old man's words were echoed over and over.

"... Disgusting..."

"... Treacherous..."

"... Evil..."

"... All the same!"

"You're a wicked..."

The voices, all banding together against her, almost made Emily panic. It was too much. Syl's people hated her, just because of where she came from.

"We're not all like that!" she shouted out.

"Oh, really?" said one man, stepping forward with a smirk on his face. The rest of the crowd fell silent. Syl grabbed her hand once more and pulled her along, away from the man.

"Don't you think your little girlfriend should know how she lost her memories, Sylvester?"

Emily paused, her jaw dropping, glancing from the smirk on the man's face to the look of pure anger on Syl's and back. "Enough!" said Syl. "I'm already banished. Let us go in peace."

"I lost my memories in a car accident," said Emily shakily.

"Yes," the man hissed. "That's what I made it look like."

"What?!" Emily blurted out.

"Emily..." Syl pulled her hand, but she slipped out from between his fingers and took a step closer to the now positively beaming man.

"What are you talking about?" she demanded.

The man stepped forward until he was only inches away from Emily. "You say you're not all evil, wicked, treacherous. Do you know who gave me the Task of erasing your memories? Do you?"

Task? Emily felt sick. Erasing her memories had been a task? Someone had asked this man to do that to her? Who could possibly do such a horrible thing?

When she didn't respond, the man snickered in her face, his breath sickening her even more.

"It was your own father."